Bailed ad-switch



J. F. KLEIN.

Railroad Switch.

Patented April 27, 1852.

her. wmhimzlom D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. KLEIN, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J oHN F. KLEIN, of the city of Trenton, county ofMercer, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and usefulImprovement for Railroad Switches and the Mode of Operating Them; and Ido hereby declare that the followlng is a full, exact, and cleardescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon. I

Figure 1 represents the plan of a railroad, in which one track as A, B,is supposed to be straight, and the other track O, D connected thereto;to be a turn out, or sideling, or any similar case where the applicationof a switch would be required. E and F are the movablelba-rs, or rails,of the switch, and G, the movable bar; or rail, of the frog. These barsare usually, I believe, at the present time, movedback and forth as maybe required, by the direct action of a lever placed at the side of theroad, and operatedupon by some agent of the company placed there for thepurpose. Contrivances have been proposed, and some of them patented, forshifting and adjusting these movable bars of railroad switches by animpulse, or blow, from the train or cars as they pass to. and fro alongthe road, but from the evidently complicated character of some of thesecontrivances,or the imperfect and partial operation of others, few, ifany, have as yet been adopted on public works. In the contrivancepatented by Mr. Richard W. Sheckeles in 1840, and

also in another, for the same purpose, by Mr. John 0. Post of a morerecent date, the appendages'for receiving the impulse from the cars andthereby moving the switch, are

placed on the outside of the track. These two co-ntrivances are verysimilar in construction and mode of operation-the levers in one caseoperating vertically,.whereas in the other they are made to move in ahorizontal direction. In both of these inventions there are used notless than four levers, two on each side of the switch, and if we supposeeither of them to be applied to the single switch, or frog, which isnecessarily appurtenant thereto; the number of levers and other workingparts would be more than doubled. Theswitch adjuster patented Mr. JesseLa Rue of Berks county, Pennsyl Vania, is evidently more simple inconstrue tion than either of the preceding, but as the patentee in hisspecifications very justly remarks, the contrivance contemplatesthetrain keeping on theright hand track or in other words it is onlyapplicable to passing the train in one direction. There is also 111 thlscontrivance another ob ectlon, whlch move scarcely one foot along thetrack.

This must be obvious from the construction proposed-the fulcrum of thelevers being in the middle, and the impulse from the train beingimparted to them almost inst-antaneously, its effect on the switch mustbe similar. The numerous accidents which have occurred, and are stilloccurring almost every day, at switches left in charge of individuals onthe road as we have already mentioned, are mainly traced to carelessnessor inattentio-n. In most of the contrivances which have been devisedtosupersede these agents, and to place the matter under the control of theengineer of the locomotive, or some other agent on the train; noprovision has been made for the probabilities of carelessness ornegligence in this quarter. In order therefore to obviate thedifficulties and objections to the contrivances above referred to, Ipropose to arrange and construct my switch adjuster in the followingmanner: I connect the movable bars, or rails, of the switch together bymeans of the coupling rods a, b, with free bolts, as in the usualmanner, so as to allow the bars to work freely on the bolts. The spacebelow the switch andthe parts used for its adjustment may be left void,or hollow, to receive the dust, dirt, snow or the like that mightobstruct the sliding motion required. 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 and 4, 4represent wood, or iron bars, laid across the track whereon the switchand adjusting bars slide back and forth. It will be understood that whenthe coupling rod a, b is moved toward one side of the track, or theother, it carries the bars, or rails, of the switch with it, andconsequently will open or close either trackas the case may be. Toproduce this motion, at the will of the engineer, or any other wedgeformed flange raised upon it as R, R. The-double shifter C, J, has'twoflanges S S and T, T. At H and J these shifters are fastened with a freebolt to the middle of the. track ona cross tie or the like. The otherends at C are joined together with a free'bolt, which also connects itwith the rod f, g and the ball and lever 71, i. The double shifter liesover the coupling rod a b and between the stops I, d which are fastenedthereon. Between the two flanges of the double shifter is placed amovable bar or 1 tongue 72, m, movable on the bolt at 70, and

sliding on thecross bar 0, p. In the above construction of the adjusterit is designed to open or close the switch from either branch of thetrack. When it is only required to move a single switch bar, at the frogfor instance, as at G, Fig. 1, a single anddouble shifter must be laidin the middle of each track as M,'P, N, and K, O, L; the tongue of thedouble shifter may be dispensed with, and the flanges on the singleshifters made with sides parallel instead of wedge formed.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the shifters for a single switch bar. The formof single shifter' here described would answer in cases where it wasrequired to pass the cars in one direction only. It will also be obviousthat the double shifters here mentioned would be applicable to all suchcases where the two tracks deflected from each other at a very smallangle.

In Figs. 4 and 5 are shown the form of a projection to be applied tosome part of the locomotive and the manner in which the same may bevreadilymoved at the will of the engineer as may be required. W, in bothfigures represents the projecting wedge (or rudder, as we shallhereafter call it). This rudder is connected with a small shaft X X,whereon it has a small circular motion, and is held in its bearings Y,Y, so as to slide therein. On the shaft-is fastened a small rack, thisrack is meshed on to the segment of a small cog wheel 7 fastened on theend of a shaft 8 8, to which is attached the lever and handle t. Itwillbe understood that as this lever is pushed to one side or the-otherof the car, it will form the connectionlabove ment-ioned move the rudderaccordingly.

In Fig. lthe switch bars E, F, are shown as open for the straight trackA, B; and the edge C, c of the flange of the singleshifter; T, T of thedouble shifter; as also those of K O and O L, are all parallel with thedirection of this track. Consequently if we suppose the cars to berunning from A to B, and the rudder to be placed on the left hand sideof themiddle of the track as at W itwould pass clear of all the flanges,or in other words the train would pass along the track without anychange in its direction. The same would be the case if the train wasrunning from B to A, this would be obvious when the rudder is as shownat W? But suppose it to be as shown at W', incthis case it would passbetween the double flanges 9, 10 of L O, and between the flange T, T andthe-tongue 7a m, and after leaving the double flange, from theconstruction of the rudder as explained in Fig. t it would ride over theflange of the single shifter C, H. This follows from the circular motionwhich may be given tothe rudder and the inclination which is given tothe end of the single flange as shown at R, 14, in Fig. 2. The rudder-itwill be seen may rise upward to a certain height but cannot descendbelow,

its proper position in consequence of the stops 2, 2, attached to it asshown in Figs. 4: and 5.

Let us now suppose that the'train is to move from A to D, the switchbeing as before mentioned. In this case the rudder would be placed ontheright hand side of the track as shown at W*, and as the train advancedwould come. in contact with, and" press against the side of the flangef,- 0 thereby pushing it over toward the other side of the track. But asthe single shifter O, H, is connected with the double shifter C, J,lying on the coupling rod a Z), between the stops I, d, the doubleshifter would be brought up to the stop d, and thus the motioncommunicated to the switch bars E, F, to move them to the other side ofthe track. In order to prevent reaction, or rebounding in the switch,the shifters are connected by the rod f, g, with the lever and ball 72.2', placed on one side of the track. As the train advances it comes orbrings the .rudder in contact with the flange of the shifter M P, whichis urged as before to the opposite side of the track and along with itthe couthis case it wouldcome in contact with the flange is n, of thedouble shifter N, P, and

would press the shifter, and its connections, overto the opposite side,and as 1t advanced would come in contact with the flange S, S;

of the double shifter O, J. and move it in a similar manner in bothinstances placing the bars of the switch in a proper posit-ion for thetrain to move along unimpeded.

If we suppose the rudder to be on the right hand side of the track, asat W, it will then as it advances along the road pass in between the twoflanges is n, and 0 7) of the double shifter and come into contact inheight elevated so as to raise a few inches above the top of the railsof the road. In

passing from the single, to either one of the double tracks, it will beseen that whether the rudder be on the right, or on the left,

the train could not possibly runoff the track. So also in passing fromeither one ever position the switches may be, the rudder would operateon the adjuster to place the switches in their proper position so-as topass the trainv without interruption.

I propose to make my shifters either of wood or metal, when constructedof wood the flanges which are elevated above the level of the track, andagainst which the rudder operates should be faced with wrought iron. Iprefer however to make them of cast or wrought iron. v

It will be seen that my adjuster is applicable to any of the ordinarykind of switches as now used on rail roads.

If the flange 9 upon L O was removed and the train moved from B toward Awith the rudder at W and the switch G was not in a proper position forthe train to proceed the rudder would not move it; or if the tongue 7: min J C was removed and the switches E F were not in the right place therudder would not move them; or if the flange 0 79 was removed and thetrain moved from D toward A with the rudder in the position WV and theswitch G was not in a proper position for the train to pass the rudderwould not move it; or if the tongue k m was removed and the switches E Fwere not in a proper position the rudder would not move them; hence thenecessity of making two flanges upon L O and N P and the tongue 72 m orits equivalent in J G as described so that in whichever position'therudder may be and in whichever dlrectlon the tram may run, if the switchor switches are not 1n a proper position, the rudder will act upon theshifters and move them to the proper place so that the train may passunimpeded and without the risk of running off the track.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

The bars or shifters J CI-I, L O K and N P M constructed, arranged andconnected to the switches of a rail road in the manner and for thepurpose substantially as described so that if the train run in eitherdirection and the rudder be placed in either position as described andif the switch or switches are not in a proper position, the rudder willact upon the shifters and move them gradually as the train approaches soas to move and place the switches in such a posit-ion that the train maypass on unimpeded without the risk of running off the track.

In testimony 'whereof, I have hereunto signed my name before twosubscribing witnesses.

